Is Black Friday edging out Thanksgiving?By Bob Greene, CNN Contributor updated 10:27 AM EST, Sun November 18, 2012 (CNN) -- The debate over whether the hand-to-hand-combat excesses of Black Friday represent a grotesque over-commercialization of the holiday season has lost its meaning. The point is no longer whether or not Black Friday tarnishes the holidays. The point is that Black Friday has become a holiday of its own. It will arrive again this week, even as Americans are still sitting at their Thanksgiving dinner tables. Black Friday -- with its door-buster sales, hordes of frenzied shoppers shoving for position, employees...

It’s not a good time to be a Republican. The circular firing squad — it was Mitt Romney’s fault! Demographics did it! Conservatives messed everything up! — has begun in earnest even though the 2012 election is less than two weeks gone.... That said, things aren’t that bad for Republicans. Here are four reasons for optimism. 1. The party’s superstars are coming of age... 2. There are an historic number of Republican governors... 3. The electoral map is bad, but not that bad. We’ve written extensively on how where Republicans currently find themselves in terms of the electoral map is...

Fox News’s now-famous Oct. 26 story on the tragedy of Benghazi carried this headline: “EXCLUSIVE: CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack, sources say.” Reaction to the story skewed toward the monster revelations in its first paragraph: namely, that the CIA chain of command had told security officials to “stand down” instead of jumping immediately to the assistance of a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on the night of Sept. 11. The CIA, too, denied requests for military backup, according to the Fox News story. Far, far less attention attached to a contention deep down in the...

...Three stages are involved in the evolution of a military nuclear capability: a delivery system, a capacity to enrich uranium and the production of nuclear warheads. Iran has been augmenting the range and number of its missile systems since at least 2006. Its enrichment capacity — long underreported to the International Atomic Energy Agency — has been expanded to thousands of centrifuges (the instruments that enrich uranium to bomb-grade material). The level exceeds any reasonable definition of peaceful uses authorized by the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The inevitable culmination is a nuclear weapon. To draw the line at proscribing an Iranian nuclear...

American Friends of Likud reported, “According to sources inside the White House, in a private briefing to President Obama on Fri night, PM Netanyahu has said that a ground offensive would be held off for now.” Early this morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided with his cabinet to ramp up the Gaza offensive from the Mediterranean Sea. Air and naval forces have been

Just more than a mile from the group of villas that served as the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was another set of U.S.-leased villas â€” â€” an...Just more than a mile from the group of villas that served as the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was another set of U.S.-leased villas â€” an annex where the CIA had set up shop, and from where would-be rescuers set out on the night of Sept. 11 in response to the attack at the consulate. Despite speculation to the contrary, no Libyan or non-American diplomats stationed in Benghazi say they knew of the existence...

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D.-Ohio), the incoming chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is accusing Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) of "sexism and racism" because the criticism leveled at U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice for telling the American people that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was a spontaneous reaction to a video posted on YouTube. “There is a clear, a clear in my opinion, sexism and racism that goes with these comments that are being made by, unfortunately, Senator McCain and others,” Fudge (D-Ohio.) said Friday at a Capitol Hill press conference. On Thursday, the Congressional Black...

November 18, 2012 St. Lucie recount results shows Murphy picked up votes on West St. Lucie election official said state-mandated noon deadline met James Kirley FORT PIERCE -- Results of recounting more than 37,000 St. Lucie County ballots were announced shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday and preliminary figures given by Canvassing Board member Tod Mowery placed Jupiter Democrat Patrick Murphy farther ahead of Republican Allen West than before the two-day effort began. Murphy campaign senior advisor Eric Johnson was quick to reaffirm victory. "As far as we're concerned, this puts an end to it," Johnson said. "The West people demanded...

Nov 18, 2012 Father, Son and Daughter Arrested in Bank Robberies A father, son and daughter may be responsible for robbing as many as seven banks in two states, according to authorities. Ronald Scott Catt, 50, and his two children, 20-year-old Hayden and 18-year-old Abby were arrested last week on charges they robbed a credit union in Katy, Texas. Deputies with the Fort Bend Sheriff’s Office in Texas say the family, which recently moved to the area, could also be responsible for several other robberies in Texas and their native Oregon. During the Oct. 1 robbery in Texas, two figures,...

"It's nuts," Gingrich told guest host Martha Raddatz on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "First of all, it's insulting. This would be like Wal-Mart having a bad week and going, 'The customers have really been unruly.' I mean, the job of a political leader in part is to understand the people. If we can't offer a better future that is believable to more people, we're not going to win."

The IAF hit the home of Ihya Abia, Hamas's chief rocket launching unit on Sunday. Abia, a senior Hamas official was killed. He was responsible for the majority of rockets fired at Israel in the past days. (Yoav Zitun)

Carlos Gutierrez, adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, said Sunday he was “shocked” by Romney’s comments this week on minorities.“I think we lost the election because the far right of this party has taken the party to a place that it doesn’t belong.”Ugh.CNN reported: In an interview set to air in full Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley, Gutierrez also sharply criticized Romney’s remarks made on a call Wednesday with donors following his loss in last week’s election. Romney explained his loss in part by pointing to “gifts” President Barack Obama gave to certain groups...

In response to Mitt Romney's analysis of why he may have lost the election -- specifically, that the President was successful in promising to bestow financial gifts on various constituent groups -- the Governor of Louisiana has remarked on CBS and on Fox News Sunday this morning that the Republican Party needs to stop talking down to voters and stop being ... wait for it ... the Stupid Party.

“We have to start electing people who look like their communities all the way from city council to county commissioners to county clerks all the way through the state and up into national politics,” she [New Mexico governor Susana Martinez] told POLITICO and Yahoo News at the conclusion of the Republican Governors Association meeting here.

On Friday, Walmart filed an unfair labor practice charge against UFCW with the National Labor Relations Board to stop what Walmart says are illegal disturbances against its businesses. A group of Walmart employes, encouraged by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and OUR Walmart, are expected to strike on Black Friday. Black Friday is the store’s busiest day of the year, and this may be the largest strike against the company in its history. Two groups affiliated with the UFCW -- OUR Walmart and Making Change at Walmart -- have been organizing demonstrations and flash mobs outside...

Petraeus Retains Super Washington Lawyer Barnett Amid Potential Probes November 18, 2012 Former CIA Director David Petraeus, who resigned after admitting to an extramarital affair, has retained powerful lawyer Robert Barnett of the Washington-based Williams & Connolly law firm. Barnett specializes in crisis management and has represented some of the most powerful political figures in the country, including President Obama; former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; Hillary Rodham Clinton; Sarah Palin and former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Washington Post reports that “the CIA and other intelligence analysts have settled on what amounts to a hybrid view” of September 11, 2012, “suggesting that the Cairo protest sparked militants in Libya, who quickly mobilized an assault on U.S. facilities in Benghazi.” What the Post doesn’t say is that the Cairo protest was itself an al Qaeda-infused, if not outright orchestrated, event.The “hybrid” explanation is a compromise, of sorts, between two competing narratives. The first suggested that a protest against an anti-Islam film in Benghazi led to a “spontaneous” assault on the US consulate there. We know that version...

'James Bond star Daniel Craig has surprised UK troops at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan by coming to visit them as they prepared to watch his latest film. Some 800 soldiers, sailors and airmen were waiting for a screening of Skyfall when the 007 star arrived. Craig was given a tour of the camp after a brief introduction of the latest Bond film to the audience. He met soldiers and saw some of the training they undergo before they deploy to forward operating bases. The star was driven around the camp in a Foxhound vehicle by Warrant Officer Class 1 Rob...

Pelosi: Tax rates must go up on richBy SEUNG MIN KIM | 11/18/12 10:30 AM EST **SNIP** “The president made it very clear in his campaign that there is not enough -- there are not enough resources,” Pelosi said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's “This Week. “Just to close loopholes is far too little money … If it's going to bring in revenue, the president has been very clear that the higher income people have to pay their fair share.”

According to Britain’s Sunday Times, Israeli special forces are already on the ground in Gaza seeking out rockets and weapons for targeting. The Times is also reporting that Hamas may place chemical weapons on its long-range missiles. “Hamas might go for a desperate attempt to launch rockets with chemical warheads if the worst came to the worst,” one unnamed source reported. It has been reported that Hamas is hiding its rockets underground, particularly near civilian areas including mosques, hoping that Israel will not strike such targets out of concern for civilian life. The same report gave a timeline of the...

Paula Broadwell arrives back at her brother's Washington D.C. home with husband Scott Linked arm-in-arm, Paula Broadwell and her husband Scott were seen together yesterday evening for the first time since the news broke of her affair with shamed former CIA Director David Petraeus. Arriving at her brother's home in the Mount Pleasant suburb of Washington D.C. in a black SUV, the two put on what was a clear show of solidarity as they marched from the garage to the back door of the $2.3 million property. Since the scandalous revelations surrounding his wife first surfaced just over a week...

The cover up is worse than the original crime. When the president conspires with others in government to lie to the American people and claim "national security" as a defense, the congress has a duty and precedent to get to the truth. Lying to the America people and ordering subordinates to lie in a cover up attempt is historically recognized as high crimes and treason and IS definitely an impeachable offense. When the president of the United States commits high crimes and treason and then lies to the American people and conspires to hide it from congressional investigators and claims...

"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired onto its territory. If that can be accomplished without the ramping up of military activity in Gaza that's preferable," Obama said. "That's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of fatalities or being wounded."

Stress Best (How Surprises Make You Stronger)Randomness, Probability And Uncertainty Nov 17th 2012The Economist Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder. By Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Random House; 519 pages; $30. Allen Lane; Ł25. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk WHAT is the opposite of fragility? Though not quite right, “resilience” and “robustness” are two words that come to mind. If fragility means something that breaks under stress, its exact opposite should mean something that grows stronger under pressure. There is no word that quite captures this, says Nassim Nicholas Taleb, an American essayist and scholar, so he has invented one: “antifragile”. The neologism...

Rescue crews in Dubai have evacuated a 34-story residential tower after a fire gutted portions of the building. The blaze on Sunday charred the outside of the structure and send gray smoke drifting over a major development known as Jumeirah Lakes Towers, a cluster of high-rise apartment buildings and shops on the southern edge of Dubai. Civil defense officials did not give immediate details on the possible cause of the predawn fire.

Republicans say Rice must testify on Benghazi statementsWASHINGTON | Sun Nov 18, 2012 1:40pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. lawmakers turned up the heat on Sunday on Susan Rice, saying the U.N. ambassador - seen as a possible nominee to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state - must testify before Congress on her remarks after the September attack that killed the American envoy to Libya. **SNIP** "She's going to have to come in and testify at some point, whether it's in a closed hearing or an open hearing," Republican Saxby Chambliss, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,...

Primary School Teachers 'Could Face Sack' For Refusing To Promote Gay Marriage By John Bingham 18 Nov 2012 Liz Truss, an education minister, refused to rule out the possibility that teachers, even in faith schools, could face disciplinary action for objecting on grounds of conscience. Miss Truss said simply that it was impossible to know what the impact of the legislation would be at this stage. Her admission came in a letter to a fellow Conservative MP, David Burrowes, last month. Mr Burrowes, a practising Christian, originally wrote to Maria Miller, the equalities minister, raising concerns about the impact on...

After yesterday's closed-door testimony of David Petraeus on the Hill, we now know for a fact that for two weeks the Obama Administration repeatedly and relentlessly lied to the American people about what they knew was the truth behind the September 11 anniversary attack on our consulate in Libya. Unfortunately, we also now know that they're going to get away with it. Within 24 hours of a coordinated assault that left four Americans dead, then-CIA Director David Petraeus was convinced the intelligence proved a local Libyan militia affiliated with al-Qaeda was responsible, and said so in his report. Then the...

The St. Lucie County canvassing board has missed a noon deadline to file election results to the Division of Elections, prompting campaign officials for Patrick Murphy to declare the political newcomer the winner in the race for congressional District 18 race. Under Florida law, the final certified results were due from all of the state’s 67 supervisors of elections today. If the results do not arrive on time, the certified unofficial results submitted last Sunday stand. Those results have Murphy winning by 0.58 percent. A spread of less than 0.5 percent would have triggered an automatic recount. “Today at noon,...

As previously reported, in resolution GOV/2011/69, the Board stressed that it was essential for Iran and the Agency to intensify their dialogue aimed at the urgent resolution of all outstanding substantive issues for the purpose of providing clarifications regarding those issues, including access to all relevant information, documentation, sites, material and personnel in Iran. In that resolution, the Board also called on Iran to engage seriously and without preconditions in talks aimed at restoring international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme. In light of this, from January 2012 onwards, Agency and Iranian officials held several rounds...

Until Friday, there were two possible explanations for why the White House failed to immediately call the Benghazi attack an act of terrorism. One was incompetence, the other was worse. Now there is only one, and it is the worse one. Based on the persuasive testimony of ex-CIA boss David Petraeus, it is clear the Obama administration made a deliberate decision to mislead Congress and the American people. The repeated claim that the attack was spontaneous and grew out of a demonstration against an anti-Islam video — a claim made by the president and secretary of State as they stood...

Woo hoo!! Now closing in on NINETY percent!! We're less than ten or so donations shy of the YELLOW!! Then it'll be the sprint to the GREEN!! We can do this, baby!! And I_be_tc's "300 FReepers with $100 for FR Challenge" is still going strong!! We now have 140 FReepers who have met that challenge!! Way to go, "300/100 Challenge" FReepers!! Almost half way there!! Thank you all very much!! Great job, everyone!! Let's keep it moving. If you enjoy reading and participating on FR, if you think it's a worthwhile endeavor and would like to help us keep it...

When a million people knock on your door, you should pay attention. Since FDR’s dark days, the divide between Americans who keep faith with the Constitution and those who use it for personal hygiene has grown deeper. Many like to blame Barack Obama for our perpetual political antagonism. Yet he is merely the latest manifestation of that eroding evil known as concentrated power. The backlash Barack suffers from those who seek enforcement of America’s express written will started its current fevered pitch via bank bailouts under Bush the Lesser. His errors were preceded by Clinton not serving time for perjury,...

As a public service to our readers, and as a gesture towards civility in our national discourse, we offer the following how-to-guide for surviving Thanksgiving dinner at the home of your triumphant liberal relatives:Arrival. “Your home looks lovely. Almost like it’s worth what you paid for it. Obama didn’t help with that yet, did he? Oh, well, maybe next term. May I use your bathroom?” In the unlikely event that your host’s home has appreciated in value, use this introduction instead: “Love what you’ve done with it. Better dump it before the new year, though, or you might face that...

A New York doctor who was active in the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011 was charged Saturday with possessing a large quantity of chemicals used in bomb-making, hours after authorities conducted a raid on the Ridgewood house in which he lived, officials said. Roberto Rivera, 60, a medical doctor, was charged with recklessly creating a risk of widespread injury or damage after FBI agents and members of the Bergen County bomb squad found precursor chemicals used in the making of explosives,

Fort Pierce — Update: Campaign officials for Patrick Murphy, Democrat candidate for the congressional district 18 race, are calling their candidate the winner because the St. Lucie Canvassing Board has missed the noon deadline to certify results to the state Division of Elections. Under Florida law, if the deadline passes with final certified results, the unofficial certified results filed last Sunday stand. Those results show Murphy ahead by .58 percent – above the .5 percent spread which would trigger an automatic recount. West officials were not immediately available for comment. ------------------ The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board resumed ballot counting...

Mitt Romney finally has it figured out. He knows why he lost. Guess what? It was all President Barack Obama's fault. Of course, that's not exactly the way Romney puts it. He puts it in a way that sounds even more silly than that. Or perhaps, depending on your worldview, more tragic. In a 20-minute afternoon conference call with his major donors and fundraisers eight days after Election Day, Romney blamed his loss on Obama's showering groups with what Romney called "gifts" to various groups of voters, "especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people." Zounds! As we...

In her "Sunday Roundup" post at the site which bears her last name, Arianna Huffington supported that notion that "This week, America finally began questioning the judgment of its generals," but lamented that the scrutiny is over "sexual conduct rather than military conduct." Fine, that's her opinion. But what's really odd is that she apparently thought that referencing a headline found at the Onion would be seen by readers as meaningful support for her argument (HT to a NewsBusters tipster): If our failed military strategy in Afghanistan had gotten half the airtime of Petraeus' failed marital strategy in Tampa, there...

Some years ago, a British engineering firm Atkins proposed an extravagant design for a five-star hotel located deep within a 100-meter, abandoned and half flooded pit near the base of Tianmashan Mountain in the Songjiang District of Shanghai. Construction on the 19-story, 380-room Shimao Intercontinental Hotel finally is already underway. Initially the hotel was expected to be completed by May, 2009, but construction commenced only in March early this year. The innovative design of the luxury resort hotel stands two levels higher than the rock face of the 100 meter deep quarry and includes underwater public areas and guestrooms. Instead...

Remembering Thanksgiving Day The Mayflower 1620- 2002 The voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 from Plymouth England, to Plymouth Rock started as a journey to find peace and justice in a new world. It began as a fervent prayer to give freedom a chance, and remains today as the promise each year for a new beginning. Thanksgiving Day is a celebration of hope, and remembrance. Today, we bring our families and friends together to share our tables and our hearts, and give thanks for all that we have to be grateful for in our new and glorious country. From this...

Stephanie Adams, the stunning lesbian Playboy Playmate who won a million-dollar police-brutality suit this year, has done an about-face. She’s now married (to a man) and loves the NYPD. Adams, 42, credits local cops with saving her from a deranged stalker who surfaced after she won a $1.2 million jury award in February in her case against the Police Department.

<p>MIAMI (AP)— Millions of food stamp recipients in 10 states were unable to use their debit cards for about six hours Friday after an outage at JPMorgan Chase.</p>
<p>Bank spokesman Mike Fusco apologized for the inconvenience and said the technical glitch was resolved around 1 p.m. Friday, but he declined to discuss details of what exactly went wrong.</p>

Benghazi And Petraeus: Too Many Obvious Questions And Too Many Non-Answers, as Col Snodgrass lists them. The Obama administration is obfuscating the truth about the Benghazi and Petraeus issues. There are too many obvious questions and too many non-answers. There are at least 22 key questions that need to be answered. 1. Why was security for the U.S. mission in Benghazi so totally inadequate after the U.S. ambassador repeatedly requested that it be increased and improved following recurrent jihadist attacks against Western diplomatic and Red Cross activities in the area and because of the well-known and growing presence of al...

Mainstream media offers little on the stunning collapse of real estate sales in France, notably Paris and Ile-de-France. Via Google translate, please consider Real Estate November 2012: figures for the month. Here are a few translate-unedited snips. 2012 will remain a very bad year for real estate professionals. In this comprehensive figures on the property market in November 2012, discover the sharp decline in real estate sales in Paris and Ile-de-France. Even in Paris, it becomes difficult to sell a property Notaries in Paris / Ile-de-France note that even in their region very attractive it becomes difficult to sell a...

During the seven days that 15-year-old Chloe Rodriguez, of southern France, was held captive, she memorized details – her kidnapper, his car, its license plate -- but she did not try to defy the man's orders for fear of being killed, metrofrance.com reported. Chloe was found in Germany, tied up in the trunk of a car Friday afternoon after police stopped her kidnapper during a routine traffic stop, RTL.fr reported. She had disappeared the week before, on Nov. 9, after leaving her home by scooter to go to a friend’s house. Chloe was hospitalized Friday after being found. Her parents...

November 18, 2012 Recount resumes as noon deadline looms By Christine Stapleton Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Fort Pierce — The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board resumed ballot counting this morning in the tight congressional race between Republican Rep. Allen West and Democrat Patrick Murphy under the watchful eyes of dozens of attorneys and supporter of both candidates. Canvassing board member Tod Lowery, who regularly updates the audience on the process, explained that the board still had write-in ballots and other questionable ballots from 8 days of early voting to review before the noon deadline for the state’s 67 supervisors...

I went to buy some Ho Ho’s but they were gone, and so was a part of America. When I heard that Hostess was declaring bankruptcy it made me sad. Probably not as sad at the 18,000 people that used to work for them but it did affect me. Oh, I knew that I was partly to blame. When I was a child I would gobble down Ho Ho’s and chocolate cupcakes with abandon. I could burn through a half of a box of Ho Ho’s and a half gallon of Vitamin D milk in about 15 minutes. My elementary...